Department Sets Guidelines on Misconduct in Research

The Department of Education outlined new plans last week for investigating charges of misconduct in department-financed research projects.

Department officials said the change is part of a government-wide effort to make federal policies on research misconduct more uniform. The plan, which was drafted by the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, calls for federal agencies to use common definitions, criteria, and procedures for determining when researchers have fabricated, falsified, or plagiarized data in studies the federal government underwrites. The Education Department’s notice appeared in the Nov. 2 Federal Register.